1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of roadside emergency telephones and in particular to a roadside telephone utilizing a cellular transceiver in combination with circuitry which allows remotely programmable reporting and operation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Emergency roadside telephone systems are well known and are finding an expanding application not only to roadside situations, but to locations in recreational areas and remote areas which heretofore have not been feasible applications for public emergency telephone service. An example of a typical prior art emergency roadside telephone system is shown by Tuttle, et al, "Emergency Roadside Telephone System," U.S. Pat. No. 4,176,254 (1979).
One of the reasons for the expansion of the scope of the practical application for emergency telephone systems has been the utilization of cellular telephones in such systems, which allow the emergency telephone network to be installed and modified at a significantly smaller cost. Examples of prior usage of cellular transceivers and emergency telephone systems are shown in Farrell, "Emergency Roadside Telephone Communication System," U.S. Pat. No. 4,724,538 (1988) and in Nasco, Jr., "Apparatus and Method for Cellular Freeway Emergency Telephone Service," U.S. patent application Ser. No. 801,410, filed Nov. 25, 1985, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,788,711.
In such prior art units, such as the system descri bed in Nasco, Jr., the cellular transceiver is controlled by one or more microprocessors which are in telephonic data communication with a central office or computer. This therefore allows for much more sophisticated operation of the callbox units including the sensing and reporting of physical communication status of each call box unit.
However, the design of such prior art units is capable of a limited degree of remote programmability, operational reporting and reconfiguration, and call processing, i.e. automatic processing and response to telephone network signals or rings.
Therefore, what is needed is a design for a cellular telephone system controlled by a software driven microprocessor in telephonic data communication with a remote office or computer having a variety of call processing, and remotely programmable preferential alarm processing features.